- You be the judge: Duke or Kansas? It was obvious before...

April 02, 1991|By Mike Conklin.

- You be the judge: Duke or Kansas? It was obvious before tipoff that the NCAA title game was a toughie. Two basketball experts in town were divided.

- At Ditka`s, Utah Jazz President Frank Layden told a big-screen party that he liked Duke. ``Everyone thinks they`ll be a little down because they won the big one (against UNLV),`` he said. ``I think it`ll be the opposite. They`ve got momentum. Besides, they haven`t won it all these years, and that means they can`t be laid-back. I like Duke. Of course, I was on lookout at Pearl Harbor, too.``

- At Thirty-Four`s in Schaumburg, Rick Barry picked Kansas. ``Duke may have a little more talent, but I`m going with my emotions and saying Kansas,`` said Barry, referring to the fact his son, Scooter, played at KU. ``They do a lot of things well, but nothing dramatic. I think they`ve got better momentum because they played tougher games to get to this point.``

- Making trims: So many formal events are planned for Opening Day at new Comiskey Park that Gingiss Formalwear in Chicago sent a team of tailors to Sarasota to fit players and staff. All told, they measured 75 Sox employees-and players who didn`t make this cut can be pretty sure they`re not coming north with the big club.

- By George: Ex-Yankee owner George Steinbrenner will attend White Sox Opening Day festivities, including the American ORT Federation tribute to Eddie Einhorn. Judging by his comments in an upcoming Playboy interview, it`s a good thing he`ll be on the South Side and not the North Side. In the May issue, Steinbrenner says he was advised by Cubs management not to hire Dallas Green as Yankee skipper. Said George: ``. . . if you go back and check with the Chicago Cubs, where Green had been general manager and team president, you`ll find that they didn`t think I should hire him.`` Why? ``They sat at a table in Montreal with me, and a top official-whom I won`t name-said, `You`re making a mistake, because he`ll always blame management and the front office. That`s what he did here in Chicago.`` Steinbrenner went on to say he wouldn`t take Green back (to New York) ``on a bet.`` First, of course, George would have to return himself since he was booted out of Yankee ownership by Commissioner Fay Vincent.

- Live at 5? Did Stacey King give hints Sunday night on Channel 5 that he`d be a no-show for Monday`s practice? Sorry, but King`s strongest comments on the show may have come when he poked fun at co-host Tom Shaer`s sportcoat. This was at least the second time this season the station came up empty-handed on Stacey`s discontent over playing time. Steve McMichael, he`s not.

- All wet: Mike Ditka does many public service announcements for TV, but somehow the one he shot Monday in the Doral Plaza Hotel appears to have better-than-average potential. The scene: Ditka, clad in Bears swimming trunks, in the hotel pool. The props: 200 yellow, rubber ducks floating around him. The punch lines: ``Quack! Quack!`` (By the way, these lines were adlibbed by Ditka. Unknown to many people, he`s a long-time student of the Strasberg school of acting.) The ad promotes the June 1 Windy City Rubber Duck Regatta in Jackson Park, an annual benefit that helps Little City as well as the fights against epilepsy and hemophilia. It`ll be aired later this month.

- Going fast: April 13th-a Saturday-won`t be unlucky for 3,000 Bulls fans. That`s the date 3,000 tickets for the first three home playoff games will be put on public sale. The opening five-game series is 2-2-1. If Phil Jackson`s troops take the series before returning to the Stadium for Game 5, Bulls Vice President Steve Schanwald says the third ticket will apply to the opening game of the second round. The seats will go sale at 10 a.m. at the Stadium box office as well as the regular Ticketron outlets. Prices? They`ll be $16-$22-$28 for second balcony, first balcony and mezzanine seats. That`s about $2-$3 above regular-season cost. Maybe we shouldn`t complain. In Miami, the lowly Heat just announced it`s raising next year`s regular-season prices by 33 percent, and this is a team going nowhere.

- On the move: When Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delany returns to Chicago from the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis, he`ll be in the conference`s new digs in Park Ridge. Monday was moving day from the old offices in Schaumburg. The Big 10 will have the building at 1500 W. Higgins Rd. all to itself with, reportedly, baskets in the parking lot to be built later this year. (Delany played at North Carolina; Assistant Commissioner Rich Falk at Northwestern). The office space will be tripled with the move. The Big 10 ADs inspect it next week, when they gather in the new offices for their annual spring meeting.

- And finally: Take Bulls PR director Tim Hallam with you on your next trip to Las Vegas. Before Sunday`s tipoff with the Celtics in Boston, Hallam made a friendly bet with Chicago beat writers that the game would go three overtime periods. It only went two, but, considering it was the first OT of any kind for the Bulls this season, that`s close enough.